Phil! Gold :: Events : PDF

Mon, 07 Mar 2005

Post-PDF Dump

I typed all of this up for my diary then figured I might as well send out
to the list (with some of the more personal bits removed--sorry).

Who Needs Friendster? *

As a result of being at PDF, I'm now very used to walking anywhere and
running into friends. Now, of course, I expect this to extend into the
rest of the world, so I keep catching glimpses of people and I get all
hopeful for a moment or two. "Is that Dale over there?" "Hey, that looks
like Sean!" "Red hair, hey it's Suz! Oh, just a red hat." Of course,
at PDF, I almost goose--er, said, "Hi, Rob" to several people in orange
hats.

Miscellaneous Things I Liked *

I love my tent. I stayed nice and dry, at least when I was in it, and all
my gear remained dry and mud free, despite the location of the tent in a
river of mud. (It's a Sierra Designs Clip Flashlight CD. Only really
sleeps one person with gear, but it works quite well for just me.)

Rob's radio station rocked. If I didn't like the current music, I could
just pop in the earphones and listen to something I liked, especially if
Rob or Dale was spinning at the time.

Once it was going well, I liked the view from the side, with the internal
red glow coming through the gaps between the still-unburnt logs on the
outside. And the fire team did an excellent job just getting it lit in
the first place.

The wet ground was conducive to the "spin white gas onto the ground at
your feet then light it" effect, though I was successful in not emulating
Sean. (i.e. I didn't set the fuel dump on fire.)

I like Alex's (dancingmantis) poi. Three wicks, short, long life even
with white gas, and metal rings for handles to facilitate movement of the
poi. Now I need to make a set of my own like that. I think I'll work on
my planned single wick monkey fist poi first, though.

I did burn myself with Alex's poi, though. (I wasn't quite familiar
enough with the handles to have attempted an over-the-head thread the
needle.) It's probably the worst burn I've had from poi (some blistering,
which mostly subsided by morning) and also the most fun I've had burning
myself. :)

Helping quadgirl lose her fire virginity was fun. And she looked good
with the staff, too.

There was one particular woman spinning that had a very beautiful spinning
style. I didn't get to talk to her afterwards and see who she was,
though. (Too much other stuff going on.)

Dress Day *

Many thanks to Tanya for lending me her pink wig, pink lipstick, and
glitter on Saturday. They all went well with my pink dress and pink
umbrella.

Once again, PDF Iron Chef was a blast. Many thanks to Leah for running it
a second time. This time around it was vegans versus carnivores, with a
theme ingredient of tofu. The vegans managed to win over the judges (even
though the carnivores had sushi with eel; I mean, eel sushi, c'mon :) ).
I wish I'd been able to taste more of the dishes. (In particular the
vegans' oatmeal-fruit-tofu pie looked very good.) I was busy making sure
things were coordinated (or micromanaging, depending on how you look at
it) and by the time I got to taste the food, most of it had been eaten.
But the vegans added more tofu to their curry, Magorn had a lot of chicken
dish and sauce, and Suz saved me a piece of sushi. So I had some things,
which was an improvement over last year.

Theme Camps *

The Gold Bar was again fun. I like just hanging out there, talking to
Whiskey and company, and chatting with people as they drop by. It's too
bad they were down a couple of people (having a baby right before PDF, how
silly :) ) and that they packed up early and left on Saturday.

I was also sad to see Dale and Sara leaving Saturday evening. And while
I'm missing people, I was disappointed not to see Alicia or Laura there.
Silly people, moving away from Baltimore. :)

I think I'll camp in the general camping area next PDF. While I liked the
theme camps, it's a good hike to get out there. And they can be loud
(especially the DJ who set up across the way from Psychedelic Shamans; I
probably should have tried to talk to him, but I was far too tired, even
if I couldn't actually sleep very well through the loudness). I also like
hanging out in the pavilion, which is really the hub of PDF.

Everything Else *

There were so many other things I loved about this burn. You're all
wonderful people and I'll see you at the next one!

Playa del Fuego 2003

Yeah, I haven't even finished with my entry for Burning Man this year, but
this PDF entry should be a bit shorter, so my lazy butt is doing it first.

This PDF was a bit different from previous ones, both in general and for
me specifically. A lot of the planning for it happened at close to the
last minute, but everything did manage to come together in time for the
event. I also left my planning to the last minute, but I'm familiar
enough with my camping gear that I can toss everything together pretty
quickly.

I was only there from Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon; I
worked on Friday and Monday. While I had arranged for a ride to PDF, I
hadn't found one back on Sunday, a situation I will not allow again. It
was simply too stressful looking for a ride on Sunday afternoon with the
prospect of possibly having to call in to work and say I couldn't make it
in on Monday.

Aside from that, the weekend was beautiful. This was a much more mellow
burn than even previous Fall burns. At other times, I've had the feeling
of a very active burn--go and do stuff and experience things. At this
one, people set up their camps and proceeded to just hang out. I had a
moment late Sunday morning where I just looked around the site and was
nearly overwhelmed by how beautiful everything was. I felt forced to lay
down and rest, for fear that I might explode with happiness.

I didn't really do a whole lot over the weekend. I hung out at
the Gold Bar, a pastime I can easily recommend to others. I rangered a
bit. I hung out at Primal Phred. I watched the main burn. I hung out in
the pavilion. I had a great weekend with my friends.

And I made Jill very happy by finally consenting to a body shot. Yes,
Jill has drunk a mudslide from my navel. She seems, oh, slightly pleased
about it.

I'm very happy to have gone, even if for but a scant twenty-four hours.